Some may not get power until weekend; Doherty sends kids home

Donna Boynton TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Published Wednesday October 31, 2012 at 6:42 am

Updated Wednesday October 31, 2012 at 10:15 pm

Power crews worked throughout the day to restore electricity to parts of Central Massachusetts, but National Grid has said full restoration may not happen until the weekend. In Worcester, Doherty Memorial High School opened on generator power this morning, but school officials soon decided it was not working out. The students were sent home at 9:30 a.m.

PHOTO/ T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG

On the ground, lineman Jim Gillmore of Moses Lake, Wash., works with a crew replacing power lines along Podunk Road in East Brookfield today. Several utility poles needed to be replaced. Power was restored to customers along Podunk Road this evening.

Power crews worked throughout the day to restore electricity to parts of Central Massachusetts, but National Grid has said full restoration may not happen until the weekend.

Worcester schools, like schools throughout the region, reopened today.

Complicating the power issues in the city was a feeder line that shut down at the Faraday Street substation, knocking power out to 651 customers in the Park Avenue and Highland Street areas, including Doherty Memorial High School.

After Doherty lost power at 6:20 a.m. school officials tried to keep school in session by running on a generator, but ended up dismissed students at 9:30 a.m. The generators are designed only to light the way for people to exit the building; they do not light every classroom, according to Worcester public schools Chief Financial and Operations Officer Brian E. Allen. Students were sent to the cafeteria, auditorium and gym.

Doherty's main power went on and off twice, and given that not much teaching and learning could happen, officials decided at 9:15 a.m. to dismiss students. An automated phone call went out to parents, and students who normally take the bus were bused home. Doherty students ended up with about two hours of school this morning.

National Grid underground crews continued to work on the issue this afternoon, City Manager Michael V. O'Brien said.

Mr. O'Brien also noted that all tree damage cleanup in the city streets should be finished by today.

National Grid has told city officials the number of outages will fluctuate throughout the day as repairs are made. Full restoration could take up until this weekend.

“We are far better off than the areas that were a direct hit by Hurricane Sandy,” Mr. O'Brien said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to all that have had their lives devastated by this gargantuan storm. The bullet missed us this time, but you don't have to be Nostradamus to predict it is only a matter of time before our number comes up again.”

National Grid reported progress was being made in some of the hardest hit towns.

Northboro, which had about 5,000 outages after the storm, had an estimated 230 customers still without power at 10 tonight. Town officials reported last night that power had been restored to schools.

Other Worcester County communities that had widespread outages include: Sturbridge (204 without power at 10 tonight, down from 1,115 at 1 p.m.); Milford (621); Grafton (31 at 10 p.m., down from 704 at 1 p.m.); Lancaster (55); Uxbridge (420); Southbridge (467); Charlton (492) and Upton (158).

Sturbridge, Grafton, Lancaster, Southbridge and Charlton were expected to have power restored by 11:30 p.m. Friday; while Milford, Northboro, Uxbridge and Upton are expected to be restored by midnight Saturday.

In Hubbardston, where about half the town – a total of 859 homes — was without power this morning, 33 customers remained without power at 9 p.m., and National Grid estimated they would have power restored by 11:30 p.m. Friday.

Across the state, National Grid had fewer than 30,000 customers without power at 9 p.m., 9,758 of them in Worcester County.

Unitil had restored power to all of its 28,996 customers in Massachusetts by this afternoon.

In addition to losing power, some area residents also lost cable, phone and Internet service.

Charter was coordinating its service repair work with that of the with power companies to restore the damaged cable lines once trees, debris, downed power lines and other safety hazards are removed.

There are more than 430 damaged cable lines in the region, according to Greg Garabedian, vice president and general manager for Charter's operations in New England.

“Our crews are out there, working safely and diligently to restore services for our customers. It is too soon to precisely estimate when we'll have services restored, but we will provide an update as soon as possible,” Mr. Garabedian said.